Load balancing and distributing switch-on control for a circuit breaker, an appliance, a device, or an apparatus

• US 6,388,854 B1
• Filed: 12/09/1999
• Issued: 05/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Berstis, Viktors, Smith, Joel Leslie
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERRY, MICHAEL JUDE
• Application Number:
  US09/457,940
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: 361/62, 361/94, 361/93.2, 307/141, 307/141.4
• US Class Current: 361/94
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 11/00 Emergency protective circuit arrangements for preventing the switching-on in case an undesired electric working condition might result
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/24 responsive to undervoltage or no-voltage H02H3/207 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention is a load balancing and distributing switch-on/turn-on control for a circuit breaker, an appliance, a device, or an apparatus wherein each switch-on device on a circuit breaker, appliance, device, or apparatus generates and provides a turn-on time delay up to a maximum turn-on time delay so that the turn-on times and respective loads after a power failure from all circuit breakers, appliances, devices, and/or apparatuses are distributed and/or balanced over a turn-on period. The present invention distributes and balances the load and consumption by various appliances, devices, and apparatuses at the time of initial power up after a power failure. The present invention also distributes the turn-on times of the various appliances, devices, and apparatuses at the initial power up time. A circuit system and method for load balancing and distributing switch-on control of an operating device. A micro-controller is able to couple to the operating device and to a power-in bus for receiving power from a power source. A relay switch system is coupled to the micro-controller for controlling the power from the power-in bus. The relay switch system is able to couple to a power-out bus to control the power to the operating device. The micro-controller generates a power-up delay time through which the micro-controller must wait and control the relay switch system to hold the power to the power-out bus before the relay switch is released to supply the power to the power-out bus for operation of the operating device.

Claims

1. A circuit for load balancing and distributing switch-on control of an operating device, comprising:

a micro-controller that is able to couple to the operating device and to a power-in bus for receiving power from a power source,

an electronically controlled switch coupled to the micro-controller for selectably applying power from a power-in bus to a power-out bus that is coupled to the operating device, and

a noise diode that generates noise which is applied as an input to the micro-controller, wherein the micro-controller;

samples the noise over a pre-determined time interval to obtain a random number that has a number of bits corresponding to the pre-determined time interval, and

generates a power-up delay time period based on the random number.

2. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the electronically controlled switch further comprises:

a relay switch that is able to couple to the power-out bus and to an off-position,

a switching device coupled to the relay switch and coupled to and controlled by the micro-controller,

a relay coil coupled to the switching device, and

wherein the micro-controller controls the relay switch by controlling a current to the relay coil through the switching device in accordance with said power-up delay time period.

3. The circuit according to claim 2, wherein:

the relay switch is placed in an open position for holding the power from being supplied to the power-out bus by applying the current to the relay coil through the switching device, and

the relay switch is placed in a closed position for supplying the power to the power-out bus by no longer applying the current to the relay coil through the witching device.

4. The circuit according to claim 3, further comprising:

a switch spring coupled to the relay switch that allows the relay switch to automatically spring to the closed position when the current is no longer being applied to the relay coil through the switching device.

5. The circuit according to claim 2, wherein the switching device is a triac.

6. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the operating device is a device in line with a circuit breaker.

7. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the operating device is an appliance.

8. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the power-up delay time period has a maximum value of 2ⁿ, with n being a number equal to the pre-determined time interval.

9. A method of providing and using a circuit for load balancing and distributing switch-on control of an operating device, comprising the steps of:

coupling a micro-controller to the operating device and to a power-in bus for receiving power from a power source,

coupling an electronically controllable switch to the micro-controller for selectably applying power from a power-in bus to a power-out bus that is coupled to the operating device, and

utilizing a noise diode to generate noise which is applied as an input to the micro-controller, wherein the micro-controller;

samples the noise over a predetermined time interval to obtain a random number that has a number of bits corresponding to the pre-determined time interval, and

generates a power-up delay time period based on the random number.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of coupling an electronically controllable switch further comprises the steps of:

coupling a relay switch to the power-out bus and to an off-position,

coupling a switching device to the relay switch and coupled to and controlled by the micro-controller,

coupling a relay coil to the switching device, and

using the micro-controller to control the relay switch by controlling a current to the relay coil through the switching device in accordance with said power-up delay time period.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of using the micro-controller to control the relay switch further comprises the steps of:

placing the relay switch in an open position for holding the power from being supplied to the power-out bus by applying the current to the relay coil through the switching device, and

placing the relay switch in a closed position for supplying the power to the power-out bus by no longer applying the current to the relay coil through the switching device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of placing the relay switch in a closed position further comprises the step of:

coupling a switch spring to the relay switch that allows the relay switch to automatically spring to the closed position when the current is no longer being applied to the relay coil through the switching device.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the switching device is a triac.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the operating device is a device in line with a circuit breaker.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the operating device is an appliance.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein the power-up delay time period has a maximum value of 2ⁿ, with n being a number equal to the pre-determined time interval.

17. A method of operating a circuit for load balancing and distributing switch-on control of an operating device that has been turned off during a power failure and has been turned back on after recovery from the power failure, comprising the steps of:

coupling a micro-controller between the operating device and a power source for the operating device,

coupling an electronically controllable switch to the micro-controller for selectably applying power from the power source to the operating device, and

utilizing a noise diode to generate noise which is applied as an input to the micro-controller, wherein the micro-controller;

samples the noise over a pre-determined time interval to obtain a random number that has a number of bits corresponding to the pre-determined time interval, and

generates a power-up delay time period based on the random number, wherein said power-up delay is utilized for the selectable application of power from the power source to the operating device.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the electronically controllable switch further comprises a relay switch, a relay coil, and a switching device and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

positioning the relay switch in an open position for preventing the power from being supplied to a power-out bus that couples the power source to said operating device, by applying a current to the relay coil through the switching device,

counting, by the micro-controller, through the power-up delay time,

determining whether the micro-controller has counted through the power-up delay time,

continuing counting, by the micro-controller, through the power-up delay time if the micro-controller has not yet counted through the power-up delay time, and

placing the relay switch in a closed position for supplying the power to the power-out bus by no longer applying the current to the relay coil through the switching device if the micro-controller has counted through the power-up delay time.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of generating the power-up delay time based on a random value further comprises the steps of:

coupling the noise diode to the micro-controller,

utilizing the micro-controller to sample noise generated by the noise diode over the pre-determined time interval to obtain the random value having a number of bits corresponding to the pre-determined time interval, and

generating, by the micro-controller, the power-up delay time based on a numeric representation of the random value.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the power-up delay time period has a maximum value of 2ⁿ, with n being a number equal to the pre-determined time interval.

21. A circuit breaker having a circuit for load balancing and distributing switch-on control of an operating device, comprising:

circuit breaker components for providing circuit breaker operations, wherein the circuit breaker components are coupled to a power-in bus for receiving power from a power source and a power-out bus for outputting the power therefrom,

a micro-controller coupled to the circuit breaker components,

a relay switch system coupled to the micro-controller for controlling the power from the power-in bus and coupled to the power-out bus to control the power, and

a noise diode that generates noise which is applied as an input to the micro-controller, wherein the micro-controller;

samples the noise over a pre-determined time interval to obtain a random number that has a number of bits corresponding to the pre-determined time interval, and

generates a power-up delay time period based on the random number.

22. The circuit breaker according to claim 21, wherein:

the relay switch system further comprises a relay switch, a relay coil, and a switching device,

the relay switch in the relay switch system is placed in an open position for holding the power from being supplied to the power-out bus by applying a current to the relay coil through the switching device, and

the relay switch is placed in a closed position for supplying the power to the power-out bus by no longer applying the current to the relay coil through the switching device if the micro-controller has counted through the power-up delay time.